JOSEPH STEWART ALTER 6328 Caton Street Department of Anthropology Pittsburgh, PA 15217 3302 W. W. Posvar Hall H.(412)421-9714 University of Pittsburgh, W.(412)648-7508 Pittsburgh, PA 15260 Email:
[email protected] EDUCATION PH.D. University of California, Berkeley, 1989; Social/Cultural Anthropology. Dissertation: Pahalwani: Identity, Ideology, and the Body of the Indian Wrestler Professor Gerald D. Berreman, Dissertation Chair. M.A. University of California, Berkeley, 1984; Social/Cultural Anthropology. B.A./M.A. Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 1982; Social/Cultural Anthropology. Thesis: Economic Change and Ideological Conflict in a North Indian Hill Village. Professor Elizabeth Traube, Thesis Chair. AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION Ideology, Religion and the Body Medical Anthropology Cultural Anthropology Philosophy and Sociology of Religion Hindu Nationalism Asian Medicine and Philosophy Modern India The Himalaya CURRENT TEACHING Magic, Witchcraft and the Supernatural Body Patients and Healers Mountains, Mysticism and Medicine Himalaya: Sacred Geography Yoga: Consciousness, Transcendence and the Body Religion and Healing in South Asia Muscular Religiosity: Nationalism and Colonialism 1 COURSES TAUGHT (1981 – 2012) Medical Anthropology Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Gender and Health Colonialism, Medicine and Power Asian Medical Systems Indian Society and Culture Nationalism, Colonialism and the Body Shamanic Healing Religious Nationalism and Science Sport and Culture Introduction to General Anthropology Asian Society and Culture Race and Ethnic Relations Sociology of Rural Development Social Problems Family Systems Social Organization Cultural Psychology PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2013 -- Academic Director, Pitt in the Himalayas. UCIS, University of Pittsburgh. 2006 – 2012 Chair, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh. June – August, 2004 Core Faculty, Semester at Sea. 2002 -- Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh.